Hurricane Dean intensifies in Caribbean

Hurricane Dean intensified late Friday to a category 4 system with winds up to 215 kilometres per hour blasted across the Caribbean. The devastating storm is advancing south of the US Virgin Islands, with its centre currently 1,290 kilometres southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and 410 kilometres from Puerto Rico.

Dean earlier left flooding and devastation in parts of the Caribbean, including the island of Martinique.

In Martinique, the hurricane caused widespread flooding early Friday in the southern part of the island, with the town of Riviere-Pilote completely under water.

The massive storm plowed through the eastern Caribbean on a direct course for Jamaica and the tourist-heavy tip of the Yucatan peninsula after battering the Lesser Antilles before dawn Friday with heavy rains and winds gusting over 170 kilometres per hour.